Device for treting food material



Jan. 23, 1951 H. J. BIERMAN 2,539,226

DEVICE FOR TREATING FOOD MATERIAL Filed June 24, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVEN'TOR Hubert-rib zerm am Hi5 ATTORNEY.

Jan. 23, 1951 H. J. BIERMAN 2,539,226

DEVICE FOR TREATING FOOD MATERIAL FiIed June 24, 1947 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 4 28 23 3O 39 44 a iJ,

arm 37 F *v Mse an way/1111111111011)? HHS ATTORNEY.

Patented Jan. 23, 1951 DEVICE FOR TREATING FOOD MATERIAL Hubert J. Bierman, Chatham, N. J. assignor to Ingersoll-Rand Company, New York, N. 1L, a corporation of New Jersey Application June ,7, Serial No. 755,678

1 Claim.

invention relates to a processing apparatus, and more particularly to a device for treating food material.

One object of the invention is to restore to the food material such nutritive subst c s as ma become separated durin the processing thereof.

Other objects will be in part obvious and in part pointed out hereinafter.

- In the drawings accompanyin this specification and in which similar reference numerals refer to similar parts,

Figure 1. is an elevation, partly insection, of .a device for treating food material .andshowing it applied .to .a :food blanching and freezing apparatus, and

Figure '2 is a view similar to Figure 1 showing a modified form of the invention.

Referring more particularly .to the drawings, the invention :is shown applied to a food processing: apparatus of :the type disclosed in United States Patent 'No. 2,407,482 .to F. B. Doyle, :September 10,1946, and which includes acasing having transverse walls -2 I and :22 .to divide the interior thereof into a blanching chamber 23, a f-reezing chamber 24 and a storage-chamber 2:5.

The walls 2| :and 22 have discharge openings 26 and}?! through which food passes from the blanching chamber 23 to the freezing chamber 24 and from the :latter chamber to the storage chamber .2 5. Thefood .is placed into the blanching chamber 23 through an inlet opening 28 at the upper end of the casing and passes from the casing 20 through a discharge opening 29 at the lower end of the storage chamber 25.

Closures :are provided for the openings .28, 216, nd 125, respectively, in ,theform of a plate 311, avalve 3| and plates ,32uand 33. 'The plate closures are each pivotally connected to the casing by pins 34, and the plates 3,2 and33 are provided with levers .35 that vlie exteriorly of the casing zfl s-for shifting the plates. The valve -is.a1so actuated by a lever 35 lying exteriorly of {the casing 20 and suitably connected to a pivot pin 36 seated in the casing 20 and attached to an end of an arm 31, the opposite end of which is pivotally connected to the valve 3|. The arrangement is such that when the lever 35 is rocked in one direction the valve 3| is lifted into the blanching chamber to uncover the Opening 26 and movement of the lever 35 in the opposite direction will lower the valve 3| into sealing engagement with the wall of the opening 26.

The plate 3|] is held in the closed position by an eye-bolt 38 which is pivotally connected to the casing 20 and extends through a slot 39 in the I trained in the condensate.

2 plate. A nut 40, in the form of a hand-wheel, is threaded. onto the .eyabolt 38 and seats upon the plate 30 for clamping it against the end of the casing 20.

Preferably, a perforated hopper 4! is disposed in the lower part of the blanching chamber 23 to guide the food to the opening 26 and to overlie the inlet end of a conduit .42 leading from the blanching chamber to a suitable evacuating dovice (not shown) which evaouates the blanching chamber for pre-cooling the food before discharging it into the freezing chamber 24. The freezing chamber 24 also has a conduit 43 to lead to such ,evacuator for eiiecting a vacuum of a value capable of effecting the quick freezing of the food material.

The steam used for blanching the f od material is introdu ed into the upper portion of the blanching chamber 23 by a conduit 44.

In accordance with the practice of the invention, means are provided for restoring to the food material such substances of nutritive value, as for example minerals and vitamins, that become separated from the food particles and en- It is essential that such broth be removed from the blanching chamber, otherwise it will be discharged into the freezing chamber and cause the food particles to freeze together in a mass or the broth will be drawn through the conduit42 by the evacuating device and wasted. The blanching chamber 23 accordingly has a drain conduit 45 that opens :into the blanching chamber at a point below the conduit42 and leads to the upper portion of a vessel 45 the-lower end of whichcommunicates, through a conduit 41, with the upper end of ,a casing ,48 containing a tubular coil 49 through which water may be circulated for cooling the condensate.

The vessel 46 is, in effect, aseparator for separating the uncondcnsible gases from the conns t and a di y as abafiie 5E3:d .p ndr ing from the upper end thereof to a point near its lower wall so that the condensate may flow freely along one side of the baffle to the conduit 41 and the uncondensible gases will now around the free end of the baffle and upwardly along its opposite side for escape through a conduit 5|.

The conduit 5| is connected to a casing 52 of a thermostatic trap 53 which may be of well known type having a thermostat 54 carrying a valve 55 that controls communication between the conduit 5| and an atmospheric port 56 in the casing 52. The thermostat 54 is normally contracted to hold the valve 55 in the unseated of the casing 48 through a conduit 58 leading to the inlet side of a pump 59 the discharge end of which is connected to a conduit 60 having branches BI, 62 and 83 that lead, respectively, to the blanching chamber 23, the freezing chamber 24 and the storage chamber 25. Each branch has a valve 64 interposed therein for selectively controlling the delivery of broth to the chambers, and on the free ends of the branches are nozzles 65 to reduce the broth to a fine spray well suited for intimate admixtion with the food materials in the chambers.

In order to prevent the freezing of broth within the nozzles associated with the freezing and storage chambers, said nozzles are encircled by bosses 66 each having a channel 61 extending around the nozzle for the circulation of a heating medium and such heating medium is conveyed to and from the channels by conduits 68 and 89, respectively.

In the operation of the device, and assuming the valve 3! and the plates 30, 32 and 33 to be in their closed positions and the blanching chamber 23 to be charged with food material, the steam for blanching is admitted into the chamber 23 through the conduit 44 and will expel the air from the blanching chamber through the conduit 45, the vessel 48 and the conduit and through the thermostatic trap to the atmosphere. When the steam reaches the thermostat 54 the latter will be extended and move the valve 55 into position to cut-01f communication between the blanching chamber and the atmosphere.

During the subsequent blanching operation, any condensate formed in the chamber 23 will pass,

together with such food substances as may bei come separated from the charge, through the conduit 45, the vessel 45 and the conduit 47 into the casing 48. There, its temperature is reduced materially in order to avoid the unnecessar flash cooling of the broth when it becomes exposed to the vacuum within the chambers 24 and 25.

The cooled broth is pumped from the casing 48 by the pump 59 through the conduit 88, and at given periods, as for example at the end of a blanching period or following the transfer of a batch of food from one chamber to another, the valves 64 are opened to spray broth over the food material which will issue from the processing apparatus without loss of weight and of the same nutritive value as originally.

In the form of the invention shown in Figure 2 the vessel 46 is interposed in a conduit leading from the blanching chamber to a barometric condenser H which is evacuated by a jet ejector '12, this being an arrangement that is particularly suitable for use when blanching food materials at temperatures under 212. The section 13 of the conduit 10 leading from the vessel 46 to the blanching chamber 23 opens into the latter at the bottom thereof and also serves to convey the broth from the blanching chamber to the vessel 45, and in the section 74 of the conduit 10 leading from the vessel 48 to the condenser H is a valve 75 for controlling communication between the blanching chamber and the condenser. The conduit 18 is of ample flow area s that the blanching chamber 23 may be quickly evacuated of air prior to the beginning of each blanching period, and the valve 15 provides a convenient means for cutting-off the condenser from the blanching chamber preparatory to a blanching operation.

The upper portion of the casing 48 is vented through a conduit 16 connected to the condenser H and is of small flow area as compared with that of the conduit 79 so that when the valve 15 is closed, as during blanching, only an inconsequential amount of fluid medium may escape from the blanching chamber to the condenser.

I claim:

In a device for treating food material, a casing having a blanching chamber and a freezing chamber to receive blanched food from the blanching chamber, means for discharging blanching steam into the blanching chamber, a cooler, a conduit to convey condensate and entrained food substances from the blanching chamber to the cooler, a pump for returning cooled condensate and entrained food substances to the chambers and having a discharge conduit, nozzles in the discharge conduit for the chambers for reducing the condensate and food substances to the form of a spray for admixtion with food material in the chambers, heating means in the casing extending around the nozzle for the freezing chamber for maintaining the freezing chamber nozzle above a freezing temperature, and conduits for conveying heating medium to and from the heating means.

HUBER/T J. BIERMAN REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,698,430 Cribari Jan. 8, 1929 1,943,775 Taylor Jan. 16, 1934 2,114,573 Rhodes Apr. 19, 1938 2,249,792 Skinner July 22, 1941 2,344,151 Kasser Mar. 14, 1944 2,374,425 DeWeerth Apr. 24, 1945 2,379,518 Hall July 3, 1945 2,407,482 Doyle Sept. 10, 1946 

